A recent survey
reported that Americans are 37th among industrialized countries in education
and Number One in self-confidence.
Obviously it would be
better if it were the other way around. Especially since everywhere you turn in
the good ole USA you hear about "our institutions" being broken. All
the politicians will tell you Washington is broken. They do not go on to
explain what they will do (or even if they will do anything) to fix it, but
vote for them anyway. Politics itself (themselves?) is/are broken. The Pentagon
is broken. The V.A. is broken. Our cities are broken. Our infrastructure is broken.
Our public transportation systems are broken. Likewise our public education
system, to say nothing of our system of higher education. The book publishing
world is broken. So is the art world. Likewise the music world. Hollywood is
broken. Our journalism is broken. The NFL and Major League Baseball are broken.
Our economy is broken. The free enterprise system is broken. The oceans, the climate, yea, the environment
itself is broken.
All this, as well as
all the other broken things too numerous to continue mentioning, goes to
support the survey's finding that we are 37th among industrialized countries in
education. Educated people with good old American knowhow would not only know
how to repair things; they would repair or rebuild them. And then they would
make sure to maintain them.
But, given all this unabated
breakage, why should we be Number One in self confidence?
Perhaps it is the new
practice of rewarding our children for everything. Run a race, come in last and
win a trophy anyway. Or could it be all those people who chant "USA, USA,
USA!" and assure us this is the greatest country on earth though how would
they know since most of them have never even owned a passport? Or maybe it's the
citizens of Lake Woebegone where every child is above average.
Whatever the cause or
causes-- and it's fun in a pseudo-sociological kind of way to speculate -- our
national narcissism is a serious delusion. And patriotism among the ruins is
surely not the cure.
